


pride is a sin (that ladd and lua cultivate in one another)

by WattStalf



Series: cos your love's got the best of me (baby, you're making a fool of me) [22]
Category: Baccano!
Genre: F/M, warning for ladd and lua
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-14
Updated: 2016-08-14
Packaged: 2018-08-08 15:15:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7762783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WattStalf/pseuds/WattStalf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>...but she's something else, and knowing that she wants it?</i> That's <i>something else, that is something else entirely...</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	pride is a sin (that ladd and lua cultivate in one another)

**Author's Note:**

> it dat boi

He's cocky, but he really feels like he's earned the right to be. But, then again, he figures that it wouldn't make much sense to be that sure of yourself and _not_ think that you've earned the right to be, so he doesn't consider himself to be a very reliable source on the matter. Whatever the case, Ladd is a cocky man and he's always been proud of himself and everything that he does. He might even go so far as to call himself vain, but he's never been sold on the idea of vanity being a sin.

And even if it  _is_ a sin, it isn't like that matters to him in the slightest. He's never been a righteous man and has no intention of ever changing that part of himself. Really, he thinks that there isn't much point in doing something if you aren't doing your damned best, and if you're doing your damned best, then it stands to reason that you have a right to be proud about it, and if your damned best is  _the_ best, then it's perfectly acceptable for your pride to border on vanity.

Ladd knows he's good at what he does, and he knows he can be charming at times and that he's not bad on the eyes, and he might even classify as a well-rounded individual. It's no wonder he can't help but think so highly of himself and hold himself to such high standards, but there is something a lot more special, he's beginning to realize, about being that proud of someone else.

~X~

She has been beautiful for a very long time, and she has known that she is beautiful for as long as she has been aware of what the word means. Lua has always taken a sort of pride in this, to know that she is so beautiful, but as time goes on, she learns to be proud of other aspects of herself. As she grows, she starts to notice other ways in which she is different, besides the fact that she is so pretty.

She is so quiet and so reserved that she possesses a refined quality without every trying, and even though she isn't anything special, her looks and her demeanor cause people to give her distance, to look at her with admiration as if she is royalty of some sort. Her ability to come across as much more important than she is becomes something she is very proud of, and her ability to ward people off without having to try at all is even better.

And then there is the man who didn't let the air that surrounded her ward him off, the man who pursued when no one else could stand up, and the man who gives her something new to be proud of. She had never thought much of others before him, but now she knows what it's like to hold someone else in such high regard.

~X~

When he starts to spend all of his time with Lua, he almost starts to forget what it is that makes  _him_ so damn special. He hasn't ever spent this much time thinking about someone else before, but she commands his attention like no one ever has before, and he sees her in such a wonderful light that he knows that he has something to be very proud of, knowing that she is his.

Ladd thinks- he  _knows_ \- that Lua is the most gorgeous woman in the whole world, but that is something that anyone could tell just by looking at her. He knows all of the other things that make her special, the things that only he is privileged enough to know because he is the only one privileged enough to be allowed this close to her. She is, without a doubt, the most interesting person he knows, and most likely the most interesting person to ever exist, and only he knows all of her little quirks, all of the things that make her so fascinating.

Lua is special and he is the only person allowed to know how special she is, and that is what eventually returns his thoughts back to himself. Of  _course_ she wants to spend her time with him, and of course she thinks him worthy of showing herself to. He can't let himself forget just how proud of himself he is, and if he's proud to have someone like Lua at his side, then it only further reflects on himself.

Ladd has every right to be a little bit more vain, having her standing at his side, knowing her better than anyone in the world. If he's the one that she trusts and he's the one that she loves, then he must be one hell of a man, and that's without thinking about the fact that she wants him to kill her so much.

~X~

Ladd is the most amazing man in the entire world, the most amazing person Lua has ever laid eyes on. She's never felt much of anything outside of her pride in herself, but when she looks at him, when she thinks about him, when she remembers that they are engaged, she feels more than she has ever known. There is excitement, and there is love, more love than she has ever thought possible for herself, and then her pride is heightened, because he is  _hers_ .

In fact, this amazing, fascinating man is so completely hers that he has promised to kill her, despite the fact that she does not at all fit the only sort of victims he typically allows himself. He has promised that she will be the last and that everyone else is just an appetizer to make her eventual end all the more perfect, and if a man like that wants to do something so absolutely wonderful just for her, then she knows that she has always been right to value herself so much.

Her love for him, all the new feelings he brings out in her, stem from more than just how amazing  _he_ is. It has to stem from how amazing she is as well, from how she was the only one good enough to earn something like this, and she knows that her pride has always been justified.

~X~

Lua doesn't ever explain why she wants to die, but she does tell him that she only wants him to be the one to end her life and that she doesn't want her life to end any other way, and that's all he really needs to hear. Really, all Ladd needs to hear from those pretty little lips is that he's the only one, regardless of what follows, but god _damn_ , it's nice to hear just how excited she is and how she values him for what really matters.

He reminds himself that he's the best there is at what he does, so it's only natural that she would want it to be him, but she's something else, and knowing that she wants it?  _That's_ something else, that is something else entirely, and he is so proud of her and so proud of himself, and just so damn  _proud_ that they're together, that they're sharing this, that it's really more than he can stand sometimes.

 

 


End file.
